Tenor had a hunch this whole time, and now it had all come together in the most delicious of fashions.
The map that draped itself over the formerly alabaster wall loomed over the remaining five ponies like an omen of death. It casted wonder into their minds — a question to keep them contemplating as they lay on their deathbeds in anticipation. To Alloy, it was a clue. To Gallant, it was a reminder. To Miso, it was a coincidence. To Sketch, it was a fact.
To Tenor, it was hope.
Tenor’s eyes scanned every inch of the photos in front of her, making her brain run faster than it had ever since the game had began twenty or so hours ago. Alloy was certainly correct, Tenor was tough enough to admit that much. They were all linked, however, it as with the most odd thing. Er, rather, pony.
Was it true that Swallow was the center of all their troubles? Tenor had always known something was up with the mare from the minute she took notice of her annoying, so-called innocent eyes. From the way Swallow walked to the way she talked, She didn’t trust her. At least, even if Tenor did end up dying, she could go knowing that her instincts were still something to admire.
Tenor didn’t want to give up just yet. She turned to Gallant and Miso, and stared them down aggressively. Her gut told her something was very much off about Miso, but she couldn’t prove it. Tenor turned back to the mare’s photo, and listened as the voices cascaded in the background.
“Gallant? That’s your picture. Who is that with Swallow?” asked Alloy. The room was so large that his voice would echo off of the walls, making it horrendously obvious whenever he turned his head to talk. Tenor contemplated calling him a loudmouth, but she wasn’t really one to talk, was she? She spat on the floor next to her. E can clean it up.
Tenor's eyes glazed over, as she focused a bit more on Gallant’s inevitable answer. The old geezer cleared his throat, and went right back to being his usual, apathetic self. Pity. “I have no idea. Maybe it was somepony in my neighborhood or something. It’s probably something like everypony else’s, where the connection is so small it’s hardly even noticeable.”
You know, Gallant, if you’re gonna lie you should at least come up with a good one.
“Liar.”
With a single word, Tenor had managed to garner the attention of everypony in the room with her. She wasn’t sure why, but she took a bit of pride in that. Gallant grunted forcefully, and walked out from Alloy’s side. If Tenor didn’t know any better, it was as if the stallion was trying to intimidate her as if you would a bear. The white mare’s grin was larger than ever, despite the hidden fury that threatened to break free at any moment.
“Excuse me?” Gallant bellowed. Tenor stared the stallion in the eyes, and shook her mane lazily.
“You heard me. You’re a dirty liar. Why don’t you just tell us? Or are you just trying to hide what you know?” Tenor’s legs were locked firmly into the ground, as she wasn’t planning on moving for quite a while. “You’ve been shifty ever since the game started, you old bag.”
“Watch your mouth, little mare,” Gallant ordered. The wrinkles on his face twitched. Was the almighty Gallant finally losing his cool? Perfect.
Gallant must have noticed his own manners, because he coughed and relaxed all within the time span of three seconds. “I’m no liar. I’m the honorary Flight Commander of the Royal Equestrian Army. I do not tell lies. Unlike you, Tenor, I am respected and don’t need to throw out petty accusations and cast doubt for nothing more than personal gain.”
For once in her life, Tenor thought about her response carefully, all while bearing that signature smirk of hers. “Your rank can’t save you in this game, ‘Commander’. Don’t act so high and mighty just because you can. You can still lie. Just come out with it.”
“And what makes you so sure that I’m hiding anything? You’ve had a problem with me ever since this game started. As a matter of fact, you’ve had an issue with every single pony in this room. Not to mention the deceased in the other room.” Everyone in the room did their best to keep their gaze as far away from Sketch as possible. It worked so well that nopony even picked up his downtrodden sigh. “You’re just paranoid. Knock it off and grow up.”
Tenor was actually glad that Alloy intervened when he did, because her heart was starting to race as it was. As much as she wanted to trot forward and sock the stupid old stallion in the face, she’d save it for later. “Look, Gallant, are you sure you’re being honest? If there’s information here that we don’t have, it'll only raise more questions and problems in the long run.”
Gallant huffed, and stared the smaller stallion down with vigor. “You too, eh? I’ll remember that, kid.” Without any more mentioning of Alloy, the older pony turned back to Tenor. The mare’s eyes were brimming with fire. “I don’t know who that stallion is. Act like some hotshot all you want, but you’re barking up the wrong tree.”
Tenor smiled as the next few words left her lips.
“Then who’s that kind stallion in that photo you have in your room?”
Gallant’s eyes went wide — faltering for a moment as he contemplated his actual emotions. Tenor snorted. That’s it folks! In just a few easy steps, you can totally debunk anything anyone says. The unicorn would be a liar herself if she said anything about her never snooping in anypony’s personal affairs. In fact, she was quite good at it at this point.
For a minute there, everypony forgot that Sketch was even in the room. He took a step forward, dominantly. Tenor still viewed the kid as the little annoying brat from earlier, so his gesture didn’t bother her too much. “So you do know who that stallion is?”
“Celestia dammit,” was all Gallant could mutter before Alloy piped up.
“So you were lying?”
“Go look in his room,” Tenor quipped, digging her hooves into the floor. For a second, the part of her mane that usually covered the right half of her face was actually moved aside, allowing her a better look at Gallant’s anguish. “He has a photo of that exact same stallion, along with two others. Probably friends, or something. Last I checked, Gallant hid the photo in one of his dressers.”
Gallant stared the mare down so hard that Alloy actually took a step away from him. Tenor didn’t back down. In fact, she took a few steps closer. She wasn’t going to be shown up by a dirty, lying stallion. If she had to go down fighting, then so be it. “When were you in my room, you little punk? Who said you could ever go in there and rummage through my things!” Gallant hollered. Miso was quick to follow Alloy’s example, and take a fearful step back.
“Because I knew you were hiding something, that’s what! Oh, and look at what we have here! I was right! If I hadn’t, then everypony else in here would still be wondering what your picture meant.” Tenor almost took her eyes off the stallion for a quick second to motion to Sketch, Alloy and Miso — however she immediately realized how big of an error that would have been. Last thing she wanted was to be sucker punched. Her horn lit up, and she enveloped the drumsticks in her mane — hoping that she would have to take them out and shut Gallant up for good.
Boredom does things to a mare. Maybe that was why Tenor had taken the time to sharpen both ends of her drumsticks down to a deadly point, just in case.
Good thing she had.
“That doesn’t give you the right to snoop. Have you been going through others’ rooms too? What, are you just trying to play ‘Spy’ now?” Gallant argued, casting a large shadow over Tenor’s small frame.
“Hey, if somepony’s being suspicious, I’ll do what I want. If you want to be bold and publicly announce that you’re trying to sabotage everyone else and win the game by lying to us, then go ahead.” Boom. With that single sentence, Alloy looked at Gallant in a much different way than she had seen prior. Tenor still had no idea if the two were in an alliance, but at this point she was pretty sure she helped shatter that tie.
Gallant let out a sigh, and turned away from Tenor. The mare squinted furiously. Is he going to backtrack now right when i cast doubt on him? "No. Look, it's not like that. I’m just trying to survive. That’s what we’re all trying to do. I don’t care about winning. I don’t care about this game.”
Sketch’s voice echoed through the room as he spoke calmly. “Then tell us the truth.”
There was a small pause, as Tenor waiting impatiently. Moments before Tenor would have lost her cool yet again, Gallant opened his mouth. “That stallion’s name is Marvel. He, along with two other stallions who died some time ago, were in my squadron back in the day, alright? That’s it. That’s all I know.”
“Why hide it, though? That’s not that bad,” Alloy proclaimed, adjusting his glasses for what must’ve been the hundredth time. Gallant didn’t respond, instead turning back to look at the photo.
“But then what’s Marvel’s connection to Swallow? Why is this all based around her anyway? She was… a nice mare," said the light blue stallion in the corner. Tenor did her best to ignore Sketch’s depression. She didn’t really care for the melodramatics of what he was going through.
Gallant let out a large sigh — one that filled the entirety of the room with faux warmth.
“Marvel had a family.”
Tenor understood, and upon taking a single glance around the room, everypony except for Miso caught on.
“So your squad mates daughter was Swallow? But that still doesn’t answer anything. We still don’t know why we, of all ponies, are here.” Alloy said, his face getting increasingly sweaty. His eyes were wide, and Tenor could see his nerdy brain working at a mile a minute. Tenor stifled a yawn. “We have so many puzzle pieces but none of them are fitting together in a productive way. All we have is more questions!”
“Calm down, Alloy” Gallant replied. Just like that, he was already pretending that his and Tenor’s argument had never happened. How boring. “I didn’t even know what Marvel’s kid looked like before now. I haven’t seen Marvel in years, so his descriptions were fuzzy, honestly. I’m not surprised that Swallow didn’t recognize me either.”
“Swallow didn’t recognize any of us,” Sketch added, kicking at the floor. “That’s the thing. Or, at least, she didn’t say anything about it.”
It was then that Alloy asked the question that was already popping through Tenor’s head. “Do you think Marvel could be… E? Do you think he’s the one behind all of this?”
Everypony looked at each other, afraid to answer the one question that needed it. It hung in the air for a good minute. The idea that it could have been Swallow’s stupid army dad behind Tenor’s possible death made her fume. How dare somepony do that to her? All for what? Swallow seeing Tenor’s amazing performance?
“No,” was the simplest answer everypony received. Gallant flicked his short tail, and passed his attention to each and every being in the room. “That’s idiotic. If Marvel was the cause of this, then why would he put his own daughter in the game? There’s no way he could leave her here without knowing if she’d leave alive or not.” Gallant pointed at Buttermilk’s picture, and the words underneath. “'The beginning of the problem'. If Marvel did this, then he had to have known of his daughters eating problem just based on this and this alone. There was no way she’d survive, much like Buttermilk. I know Marvel. He was an odd fellow, but he talked so highly of his daughter. Besides, E doesn’t sound like him.”
“Not to mention—” Sketch interrupted. “Why is he named E if his name is Marvel?”
Gallant gave Sketch a stupid look, one that almost cracked Tenor up. “Yeah, sure, that too. Point is, Marvel can’t be behind this.”
As much as Gallant said those few words with certainty, Tenor wasn’t buying it. The stallion lied once, surely he could do it again to cover for his old friend. However, his point about Swallow’s father made a bit too much sense for even Tenor to argue. If Marvel really was behind the game, then why put his daughter in it?
Tenor didn’t know, and she was much too tired to think about it. She’d leave the extended thinking to the dork for now. Every single bone in her body was begging for rest and leisure, but Tenor knew that that wasn’t going to be happening soon. Perhaps that revelation was the reason for why she was going as long as she was.
“Well, I’m done with everything. I’m going to eat,” Tenor declared, walking away from the group with a strange little strut in her step. What everypony else viewed as sass, Tenor only viewed as staying balanced after the sheer lack of sleep.
That didn’t mean she couldn’t feel it, though — that little tingling sensation on the back of her neck. She had noticed it the entirety of the game, and it pierced a hole into her very subconscious. Tenor looked back, and confirmed her suspicions.
Sketch, Gallant, and Alloy had turned back to talk among themselves.
So why was Miso still staring at her?
It wasn’t why Miso was doing it, per se, but moreso the way. Tenor was appalled at how nopony else would notice those overly creepy stares that she would give. Most of the time, she looked relatively normal — oblivious, as usual. This, however, was one of those times where Miso made her contemplate what was actually going on. When Tenor turned around, Miso’s eyes bore into Tenor like a power drill. They were full of… something. What it was, Tenor couldn’t tell. Intent? Compassion? Malice? It didn’t matter. In the end, Tenor knew what it came down to.
She was very sure that Miso was lying this whole time. Tenor was absolutely positive that Miso could understand them.
Tenor was able to prove that Gallant had been lying for personal gain. She’d be damned if she couldn’t do it again.
Tenor sat down at one of the seats, not entirely caring for what meal she ate anymore. She kept her eyes trained on the lily colored mare across the room, who still hadn’t managed to break even a moment of eye contact.
Suddenly, Miso smiled. She waved her hoof, changing her entire demeanor in a matter of milliseconds. Tenor didn’t bother to wave back, instead choosing to take a rough bite of her sandwich.